# asper
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈæspə/
* (US) IPA: /ˈæspɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Etymology 1

From Middle English aspre, from Old French aspre (modern French âpre), from Latin asper (“rough”).

#### Alternative forms

* aspre

#### Adjective

asper (comparative more asper, superlative most asper)
* (obsolete) Rough or harsh; severe, stern, serious.
** 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:An asper sound.

#### Noun

asper (uncountable)
* (phonetics, obsolete) Rough breathing; a mark (#) indicating that part of a word is aspirated, or pronounced with h before it.

##### Derived terms

* spiritus asper

### Etymology 2

From Middle English asper, from Middle French aspre or Italian aspro, both from Ancient Greek ἄσπρον (áspron), from neuter of ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”), from Latin asper (“rough, newly minted”).

#### Alternative forms

* aspron

#### Noun

asper (plural aspers)
* (historical) Any one of several small coins, circulated around the eastern Mediterranean area from the 12th to 17th centuries.
** 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:And for ten Aspers you shall daily finde some amongst them, that will give themselves a deepe gash with a Scimitarie, either in their armes or thighes.

### Anagrams

* rapes, après, Pears, prase, Spera, presa, apers, spaer, RESPA, pears, Spare, après-, reaps, præs., apres, parse, Rapes, Earps, Presa, aprés, spear, Spear, Peras, spare, pares, sarpe

## Latin
### Etymology

Probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”), also present in Ancient Greek ἀσπίς (aspís, “shield”) and Hittite [script needed] (ḫasp-, “to cut down”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈas.per/, [ˈäs̠pɛr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈas.per/, [ˈäsper]

### Adjective

asper (feminine aspera, neuter asperum, comparative asperior, superlative asperrimus, adverb asperē); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)
* rough, uneven, coarse
* unrefined, rude
* sharp, newly minted
* harsh, bitter, fierce
    Synonyms: ācer, acerbus, frāctus
    odia aspera ― bitter hatred

#### Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

#### Derived terms

* asperē
* asperitās
* asperiter
* asperitūdō
* asperō
* asperūgō
* perasper
* subasper

#### Descendants

* Albanian: ashpër
* Aromanian: ascuru
* Asturian: aspru, ásperu
* Catalan: aspre
* French: âpre
* Galician: áspero
* → Ancient Greek: ἄσπρος (áspros)
** Greek: άσπρο (áspro), άσπρος (áspros)
** → English: aspron
** → Serbo-Croatian: ȁspra
* Italian: aspro
* Occitan: aspre
* Portuguese: áspero
* Romanian: aspru
* Sardinian: aspru, aspu
* Spanish: áspero

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “asper”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 58

### Further reading

* “asper”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “asper”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* asper in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) rough and hilly ground: loca aspera et montuosa (Planc. 9. 22)
* “asper”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “asper”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

### Anagrams

* pares

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Noun

asper m or f
* indefinite plural of asp